Mechanical indexing means



J. E.' MACK.

MECHANICAL INDEXING MEANS.

APPLICATION FILED IIIAII.2I, 1921.

1 ,4;- l 0,94 l Patented Mar. 28, 1922.

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.fe Merk/ay ttowms YNITED STATES PATENTkk OFFICE. i. i

JAMES EDWARD MACK, or mcxsviLLE, NEW YORK.

`iviEcnrarrciiL iNDnxrnG MEANS.

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Be it known that T, JAMES EDWARD MACK,

a citizen of the United States, and a resident` of Hicksville, in the county of Nassauand State of New Yorkg, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Mechani` cal Indexing is a specification.

M resent invention relates to indexino` C and proposes a `readily expansiblev indexingy system in lieu of the usual surname index which will promote decided advantages thereover, whichwilll'lavoidi the `known disadvantages thereof, and which will'be simple, readily understandable and definitely effective. I

Tn the ordinary indexing.l by surname greatdiiculty is encountered unless the index outline iscarried'; out to an annoyingly great extent, it being impossible for instance to distinguish in an index carried out four place, between such names as,

` Rosenfeld Rosenbaum Rosengarten Rosemont losenwald .losendall flosencrans Rosenberger Roselle all of which would be indexed Rose T propose means forming an index sys- 4ltose Rosen tem where by the use of not over .four outi lines, these several names along with several others can be readily distinguished.

ln the accompanying drawing,

Figure l is a plan View of a card showing the indexing means applied to one name, and

Figures 2 to 6 inclusive are similar views showing the means applied to other names.

Tn carrying out my invention the first and outstanding feature is the determination of the index word outline from the consonants of the word to be indexed for when it is considered that approximately ynine of ten names have a vowel as either their first or second letter and this vowel is either a, e or o, it is quite obvious that the index range when the vowels are utilized, is limited, while if the vowels are omitted, the range is materially widened and the chances of duplication materially lessened. For 'instance take the names Sabin, Sacks, Sadler,

Samuels, Sanborn, Sargent, Saxon indexed to two places utilizing the vowels, gives Sa in each instance while by utilizing the v Means, of whichthe following* p Speccatcn of Letters Patent. Patented MEL 28, 1922'. Appncafi'onjiea March 21, 1921. serial No. 454,234.

2 consonants we get sb, sc', sd, sm, sn, sr, sx

respectivelyf f f numerical indicators `according to' the Y relative frequency with which 'the letters desigconstruction, inorder that in the final analysis kten combinations maybe found which will work harmoniously andV successfully, each combination or class having-aI separate' digit or numeric denominator.v

consider that in the average index about one naine out of every nine begins with S and The next "and not less importanty feature cf my 'present' system'fis the `application of `b() nated by the numeralappear in ordinary* 65 Whenl we only about one in everythree hundredbegins with 2, it becomes obvious that Z can be classified with S and given the same numeric denominator with little dangerof interference. o

Bearing in mind therefore that the consonant outline of the object word is the index outline and that the digit denominators limited to ten in all for thevarious consov ants and applied thereto inaccordance withtheir relative frequency in yordinary construction, I have arbitrarily separated' the consonants into two classes called absolutey and qualified, the latter consisting of the letters G-T-RN Thus the absolute'consonants'may be di- The'qualified consonants G, T, R, and N are utilized when occurring initially but are disregarded otherwise except when they are n needed to bring the index outline to the necessary number of places. They are given the digit denominators- 3 4.- 6 8 G T R N Vand for example would be disregarded in sor carrying the indining ofxthe following words t0 three places;L

Imperial 7963 Ba'rbiers 2624 i (See Figure 2)` In this index syste'rnit is proposed tot-reat doubleletters as one,ivncludingrCK which is considered KIQ :and it isv also proposed that Whenever fHf7 .ori L appears with an-. i 'other consonant Without theV interposition ofa vowel,-1they shall be treated as compound-- If the letter associated with either H lor L :is an ,absolute consonant, the compound is designated 5, but if the associated: letter is a .qualified consonant the compound is f designated vby 9.7 Thus,

yl:\`urtherxr11-oretvvo qualified consonants apvpearing togetherV Without the interposition of vowel are treated as a com oundr and the compound designated as ,i`o`r instance Brayton-2608. (See Figure 4.)

' f It becomes quite vobviousthereforevthat the index outline ,Inay lbe Vcarried out as many places as desired or necessary and that this including the Christian naine in a naine` index; (See Figure 5);, dress (see Figure 6). On the other hand geographical or descriptive names may be contracted to prevent excessive duplication folV indexnumbers.

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Vl. An indexing element having digits representing the consonant outline of indexed matter. and corresponding `to the letters of such outline in groups of letters according to .the relative frequency of the occurrence of such letters in average Word construction.

` or for instance the ad? irexibility may be carried even further by Y 2.- An ndexgelement having digits ,reP-

resenting certain letters of indexed Words and corresponding to the letters in groups accordingV `to the relative frequency of such letters in average word-construction, each group having an indexing digit.

.JAMESEDWARD MACK. 

